Field
The described embodiments relate to content delivery for electronic devices. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to using listen ranges to deliver content to electronic devices from local caching servers.
Related Art
Improvements in computing power and wireless networking technology have significantly increased the capabilities of electronic devices. For example, electronic devices such as laptop computers, tablet computers, portable media players, smart phones, etc. are often equipped with personal area network interfaces (Bluetooth, infrared, near-field communications, etc.), local area network interfaces (e.g., WiFi, Ethernet, etc.) and/or wide area network interfaces (cellular voice/data, etc.) that allow the computing devices to retrieve web pages, stream audio and/or video, share desktops and/or user interfaces (UIs), and/or transfer files wirelessly.
The increases in the capabilities of electronic devices have enabled the expansion of numerous usage aspects of the electronic devices. For example, the amount of content delivered to electronic devices via downloading, streaming, or otherwise accessing content over networks (generally, “digital content delivery”) has significantly increased in the last few years. Users of electronic devices regularly use the electronic devices to acquire (download, stream, etc.) content such as music, movies, pictures, books, software updates, and/or applications from Internet-based content providers and/or content delivery networks. The increase in digital content delivery, while an improvement in the ease of acquiring content, can cause problems for electronic device users, network hosts, and/or content providers. For example, consider a school (e.g., grades K-12, college, etc.) that would like for students to download digital textbooks. Often, schools have limited Internet bandwidth (e.g., bandwidth caps, etc.). Because digital textbooks are typically incorporated in large files (a gigabyte or more), downloading a digital textbook places an appreciable load on the school's Internet connection. Multiply this effect times hundreds or thousands of electronic devices, and the overall impact on the network access for the school can be prohibitive (can restrict bandwidth for other uses, exceed bandwidth caps, incur fees, etc.). Consequently, delivery of content to large numbers of electronic devices using the same Internet connection may negatively impact the deployment and/or usage of the electronic devices.
In the figures, like reference numerals refer to the same figure elements.